In a display application, the tiled display uses the plasma-shells as pixel elements. The plasma-shells are encapsulated hollow gas filled shells. When a voltage is applied across the plasma-shell, the gas ionizes and glows. Depending on the type of ionized gas, the gas discharge will emit light in the UV, visible, and/or infrared regions. The ionized gas can be used alone or in combination with a luminescent material to achieve light emission in the UV, visible, and/or infrared region. Each plasma-shell may be of any suitable geometric shape, such as a plasma-sphere, plasma-disc, and/or plasma-dome.
A gas discharge plasma display panel (PDP) comprises a multiplicity of single addressable picture elements, each element referred to as a pixel or cell. The electrodes are generally grouped in a matrix configuration to allow for selective addressing of each pixel or cell. In a multicolor PDP, two or more pixels or cells may be addressed as sub-pixels or sub-cells to form a single pixel or cell. As used herein, pixel or cell means sub-pixel or sub-cell. The pixel or cell element is defined by two or more electrodes positioned in such a way so as to provide a voltage potential across a gap containing an ionizable gas. When sufficient voltage is applied across the gap, the gas ionizes and discharges to produce light. In an AC gas discharge plasma display, the electrodes at a pixel site are insulated from the gas with a dielectric. In a DC gas discharge one or more of the electrodes is in contact with the gas.
Several types of voltage pulses may be applied across an AC gas discharge plasma display cell gap to form a display image. These pulses include a write pulse, a sustain pulse, and an erase pulse. The write pulse is of a sufficient voltage potential to ionize the gas at the pixel site and is selectively applied across selected pixel sites. The ionized gas will produce visible light and/or invisible light such as UV, which excites a phosphor to glow. In an AC gas discharge, sustain pulses are a series of pulses that produce a voltage potential across pixels to maintain ionization of pixels previously ionized. An erase pulse is used to selectively extinguish ionized pixels.
The voltage at which a pixel will ionize, sustain, and erase depends on a number of factors including the distance between the electrodes, the composition of the ionizing gas, and the pressure of the ionizing gas. Also of importance is the dielectric composition and thickness. To maintain uniform electrical characteristics throughout the display, it is desired that the various physical parameters adhere to required tolerances. Maintaining the required tolerance depends on display structure, cell geometry, fabrication methods, and the materials used. The prior art discloses a variety of plasma display structures, cell geometries, methods of construction, and materials.